Abstract:Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) have been the focus because of their serious effects even at the trace level. As a kind of typical EDCs, environmental androgens mainly exist in the incomplete treated drainage of feedlot, wastewater treatment plant and paper mill. They are frequently detected in environmental matrix because of the continuous inputs, then they cause masculinization phenomenon of aquatic organisms, which have posed the potential threats on the environmental health and ecological safety. The exposure effects, the sources and the exposure levels of environmental androgens in different environmental matrices were reviewed in this paper. Moreover, the environmental behaviors of the androgens such as their sorption, transportation, degradation characters were summarized. On the basis of current studies on the environmental androgens, the tendency for the future research in this field was discussed and suggested.